Your ideas for the Ecotown site

After we put out our Ecotown report, we invited people to share their ideas on a couple of issues: what they thought of our proposals for the Ecotown site and what they'd ideally like to see happen there.

We've collected the responses we received on this page of the site...

Comments...

Responses we've received are below, sometimes with short replies from us to some of the points made underneath.

Inspiring stuff. When I read this it really gives me hope for the future of mankind. I just hope their proposals get accepted.

Sue, posting on www.transitionculture.org

Your title and theme should be: From Transition Town to Eco-Town.

Why? Because the Ecotown represents the end point where we want all communities to be by 2050, not a transition point half way in between. It is Leicester that needs to move from fossil dependence through transition to carbon neutrality. Pennbury can help Leicester towards transition because of the improvenents to transport that will be made and the green energy that will be generated on site (and other aspects that are too numerous to mention here).

Your document mentions several innovations that are already part of the Co-op's proposals. Where you differ seems to be in scaling back the new build and in farming practices. I shall mainly deal with the latter.

The Pennbury proposals already include such innovations as anerobic digestion, composting, combined heat and power with community heating and sustainable fuel (woodchip from managed woodland and short rotation coppice). Carbon neutrality is implied with code 6 sustainable homes, and this is the standard to which the Co-op aspires. Organic farming is not envisaged, but allotments and gardens are, where residents could practice organic methods if they so chose. There will, no doubt, be some farming innovations at Pennbury, and these may well include the supply of fruit and veg to the town.

Co-op farms come in two varieties - those wholly owned by the Co-op, and those that are simply managed by the Co-op. The farmland and airfield around Pennbury are wholly owned by the Co-op, (English Partnerships are also contributing a parcel). Co-op land is owned collectively by the three million members of the Co-op group. There are no private shareholders. By and large, Co-op members do their shopping in Co-op stores. The Co-op group conducts surveys of the membership to see what policies should be developed. This is why all tea, coffee and chocolate products in Co-op own brand packaging are fairtrade. The Co-op is now the principle driver behind fair trade in the UK (in my opinion). No own brand eggs are from caged birds, no own brand toiletries are tested on animals, etc. The Co-op bank refuses to finance oil prospecting, arms deals, etc.

I would expect that residents at Pennbury would be encouraged to take up membership of the Co-op, and they would thus be able to influence how the Co-op operates through the democratic structure that the Co-op is. (There is a difference between the Midlands Co-op and the Co-op Group, but I am sure you are already aware of this). Of course, residents in Leicester can already take up membership if they so desire.

Organic food is available in limited quantities in Co-op stores. If the demand was there, no doubt the Co-op would respond. My understanding is that whilst fair trade is a priority for ethically minded Co-op members, the precise farming methods used in farmcare units are left to the farmcare management to decide. I believe that farmcare uses expertise supplied by Agrovista. Battery farming has been eliminated, but the use of fossil fuel derived fertilisers has not yet appeared on members radar. However, the Co-op is leading the way in switching to green energy and already has the UK's largest photovoltaic array and operates wind generation on certain farms. The use of composted residues is envisaged at Pennbury, including from anerobic digestion. This is unlikely to meet organic certification standards, but would contribute to carbon neutrality. Whether biochar from pyrolytic combustion will also be used is not yet clear. Short rotation coppice to supply power gereration is no doubt envisaged, but where that will be grown is not yet clear.

In my opinion, the organic movement principally represents the interests of a minority of farm owners who have adopted particular farming practices. These practices typically include animal rearing because organic milk and meat products are such valuable commodities. However, the greenhouse gas emissions from animal husbandry are said to be greater than that from all transport combined (on a global scale). If one is concerned about climate change, as opposed to simply peak oil, then the phasing out of animal husbandry and moving towards a vegetarian way of life is necessary. When you take animal manure out of organic farming then productivity is affected. In my view, to insist that all methods of soil enrichment must be 'organic' is to place an unrealistic constraint on farm management. Organic methods are not the only game in town. Whilst I would agree that peak oil is looming, and climate change threatens our way of life, I do not believe that the answer is the wholesale adoption of organic or permaculture farming methods. I am, however, open to persuasion.

The Co-op represents a lobby of enormous size and importance. The Pennbury proposal was the subject of fierce debate among the membership culminating in a vote at this year's AGM. The Co-op Party is presently having its annual conference entitled 'Consumers With Attitude'. We recognise the tremendous power of money - even the small amount that all of us spend each week on food. When a large number of people act collectively, big things can happen. I would suggest to you and all persons who are concerned enough about peak oil and climate change as to have joined the transition movement, should join the Co-op movement and make your voices heard within it. Instead of remaining in a fringe, join the mainstream. The Co-op Party and the Co-op group have influence and need to grow so that their good work will continue whatever else happens.

Bill Hopkins, Birmingham

Bill also added...

Good to see a positive response to Pennbury. The main difficulty is that your proposal would marginalise what needs to be in the mainstream of public life in the nation. You are not really adding any new ideas to the Co-op's published proposals, other than suggesting a change of farming practice to organic. This may reflect your own tastes, but a move away from the production of meat would surely be better. The Co-op farmcare business really does not need to be told by amateurs how to do farming, and neither do Co-op stores need to be told what the public want to eat. Finally, as regards housing, to reduce the number of dwellings built at Pennbury would undermine your objectives for the refurbishment/renewal of housing in Leicester, because without substantial new build, there will not be the space to accomodate people whilst their neighbourhoods are re-developed.

The Co-op proposals are good enough for me, given that they already include space for consultation.

Thanks for such a thorough reply! I don't think we'd disagree that the co-op is doing lots of great work on sustainability and that there's a lot of good that can be done by getting involved with it. On the other hand, Transition initiatives have no intention of being a fringe activity - we're only just getting started, so we're not well-known yet, but we hope to have a very high profile in years to come.

It was good that you strongly expressed the idea that the Ecotown could be an exemplar sustainable development that's fit for the future, as that's the best argument I know of in favour. The point that we're making is that even if you accept that as true, we need to ask the question of what impact that settlement will have on surrounding communities. Since Leicester already exists, and almost certainly can't provide for it's own resource needs within the city limits, it's likely to need resources from the nearby countryside to support a shift away from fossil fuel dependency. Therefore building a substantial new settlement on greenfield land nearby, even if it's to build an inspiring self-sufficient carbon neutral community, doesn't make sense to us when you consider this bigger picture.

The other main point is about organic farming. We're not strongly committed to that particular label over other sustainable approaches to food production (and we were just putting out ideas for discussion, after all). The point we're making is that conventional farming relies heavily on fossil fuel inputs, so we'll need something like organic methods - that allows for a sustainable cycling of nutrients and energy inputs - not as a matter of taste, but to ensure we have a secure food supply. The shift over to largely organic methods is exactly what happened in Cuba in the 1990s when the country had its oil supply greatly reduced, and for entirely pragmatic reasons.

Andrew, Transition Leicester

On things that it'd be great to have on the site...

low carbon food processing of seasonal produce... breads from solar & biomass ovens preserving vegetables using lactic fermentation using mycoprotein with grains & legumes such as natto, tempeh & amasake. fermenting fruit, vegetables, grains & legumes to make condiments like shoyu or low alcohol drinks such as kvass, cider, beer etc.

Paul@Soyfoods, Melton Mowbray

Before sending any comments we need to know from those areas in the country where they are Ecotown up and running how the development has affected the community positively and otherwise around them and have a survey to see how the environment and the community has benefited from those developments.

Minou Cortazzi

I fear your imaginary 'Mercury' article looks through very rose-tinted 20:20 specs. The alternative view could be something like this...

"What went wrong? Lean years up to 2021 as a result of Peak Oil brought a halted construction programme on a vast newly created wasteland around Stoughton with hedges and trees all gone; unfinished road layouts across what was pleasant and productive farmland, unsold Phase One eco-houses and a sense of isolation among those already settled there due to cutbacks in public transport investment and horrendous costs for private transport. At the same time there exists a relatively booming Sustainable Urban Extension over on the opposite side of the City whose occupants are well-placed for transport, employment and all the facilities and services people expect. There is huge discontent and disillusionment among ecotowners who leave unsold properties at Pennbury as they seek more secure urban existencies... Rusting cycle trailers with peeling green paint are to be found in roadside ditches, much as supermarket trolleys were two decades ago."

Common sense ought to be dictating to this government that 'Growth Points' in the form of SUEs is the way forward. Ecotowns are just political flim-flam in an effort to raise popularity. If all of the shortlisted ecotowns were to be fully developed they would deliver a mere 3% of the perceived need for three million new homes. Effort should be focused on redevelopment and refurbishment. Did I see a figure the other day that there are 840,000 empty homes? There is no reason why Code Level 5 and 6 homes should not be created in SUEs or as refurbished homes.

Food security is already becoming a vital issue in the UK since we import around 40% of what we consume. As Peak Oil tightens its grip the situation will undoubtedly worsen. Japan imports 40% of its food consumption and 'food riots' have already occurred there, though mainly as a result of the increase in prices for carbohydrate staples, resulting from diversion of crops as feedstock for biofuels. Same in Italy and Mexico...

Government will ensure that the military and other vital needs, such as agriculture, will have their (bio)fuel supplies. The USAF are well on their way to licking the problem, regardless of the misery created elsewhere on the planet.

The emphasis in farming is now on 'power agriculture' and I'm certain our government will secure fuel supplies for farming. Large 400hp tractors and equipment with widths of 12 metres or more are commonplace on farms in the EU. Believe it or not, there is less reliance on spraying 'Roundup' and a greater emphasis on ploughing-in plant material with heavy-duty 'mulchers'. These are the big brothers of disc-harrows. This is good news, though typically British farmers tend to be behind with things happening on the other side of the Channel. DEFRA's recent Soil Strategy Consultation did not contain the word 'humus' in its text. This is amazing - 'A nation lasts as long as its humus'...

As Bob Doppelt says in his book 'The Power of Sustainable Thinking' (Earthscan - approx £16 but around a fiver less if ordered via Amazon) we can't look to the past for solutions - a whole new mindset is needed. Unfortunately, this requires education and behaviour change - to which a section of the population will remain in denial and resist all efforts. It may well be that we're at the tipping point already as far as atmospheric CO2 is concerned and that realisation of what needs to be done has come too late.

Back to 'Pennbury': The 'best use' of the land is probably not a million miles away from its present usage, though we will undoubtedly see landscape changes across the entire country as energy security bites harder. By this I mean that a lot of land will be given over to Miscanthus and poplar/willow hybrid coppice rotation for small scale electrical power generation - and the ubiquitous Oilseed Rape. Unfortunately, we seem to be heading down the nuclear route rather than concentrating on renewables technology. Again, we have been left standing by our cousins across the North Sea. At the same time as a massive off-shore wind-farm was rejected in the Thames estuary, the Germans announced that they were commencing with similar large schemes at Wilhelmshavn and Rostock. The Germans too have acres and acres of PV generation...

As a footnote, a colleague has just been awarded his Doctorate at Loughborough. His thesis revolved around Peak Oil effects and the consensus given to him from experts around the world is that global production will peak around the time of the London Olympics. It's interesting to watch the energy situation change almost on a daily basis now. The latest little twist involves not mentioning Peak Oil - the jargon being spun by referring to countries that have 'flipped' their oil production. This simply means those countries that have crossed over from being net oil exporters to oil importers or total home consumption. A decade from now it's going to be a radically different world and not just because of climate change effects. Indonesia flipped three years ago, Mexico (the USA's second biggest importer) will flip within the next five years and the next to go after that will be Iran. Iran is currently the world's fourth largest exporter - stand back and watch the fun!

Have you seen Aubrey Meyer's "Contraction & Convergence" chart? It can be viewed at http://www.gci.org.uk/images/C&C_Bubbles.pdf. I asked Aubrey how much a full size (five feet by nine feet) printed version costs. The answer is that it is printed by a specialist company in Switzerland and it costs more than £700!

Graham Stocks, Leicestershire CPRE.

I just thought I'd chip in in response that I find the idea of bike trailers rusting and being abandoned in a world that's been hit by Peak Oil hard to believe... they'd be one of the most useful things a person could possess!

I guess I should also add that our newspaper report from the future was based around some of our own ideas for the site, not the Ecotown plan as proposed. It does paint a totally positive picture of what we're suggesting of course, but that's based around the idea that if we can present our ideas in a positive and exciting way, we might feel more inspired to make them happen...

Andrew, Transition Leicester